Xavier basketball's Chris Mack voted Big East Coach of the Year

Xavier head coach Chris Mack made three media appearances Monday, including a Big East conference call, a press conference at Cintas Center and an interview for ESPN's SportsCenter.
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Xavier Musketeers head coach Chris Mack raises a first before cutting down the net after the NCAA Big East game between the Xavier Musketeers and the Providence Friars at the Cintas Center in Cincinnati on Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2018. The Musketeer won its first-ever Big East regular season title with an 84-74 win over Providence.(Photo: Sam Greene)

Somehow, Mack still managed to partly wriggle out of his moment in the spotlight and deflect praise to others.

Everyone else knew the truth, though: That the 48-year-old Mack was a deserving recipient of the honor presented to him at a Big East end-of-season awards banquet preceding the start of the league's postseason tournament.

Mack guided his Musketeers to a program-best 15-3 Big East record this season. They held off the Villanova Wildcats to complete the conference's regular-season championship.

After accepting the award, Mack was his usual sincere, unpresuming self as he doled out praise to the people that helped him achieve one of the great individual honors of his increasingly storied coaching career.

"I have so much respect for the coaches within our league. They're great ambassadors of the game," Mack said. "This award, to me, is more about our team than it is about the head coach. We don't get to this point if we don't have a group that's connected, that's coachable, and that wins."

Mack also heaped praise on nine-year Xavier assistant Travis Steele, calling him "one of the brightest minds in the entire country" when it comes to offense.

Assistants Mike Pegues and Luke Murray, whose respective stays on Mack's staff number six and three years, were also on the receiving end of Mack's praise.

"Mike does an unbelievable job with our big guys," Mack said. "Luke has done an amazing job since he got here three years ago with our perimeter players, his scouting, his recruiting, so I couldn't be more blessed as a coach to have the kind of coaching staff that I have."

Mack was also named Atlantic 10 Conference Coach of the Year for the 2010-11 season.

Wednesday's ceremony also saw Villanova's Omari Spellman named Freshman of the Year in the Big East.

The Wildcats' Jalen Brunson was named the league's Player of the Year and Scholar-Athlete of the Year.